Published on Thursday, October 02, 2025
Abstract
Les odeurs, invisibles et difficiles à verbaliser (Jaquet, 2005), exercent pourtant un impact puissant, souvent implicite, sur notre relation aux autres. Elles peuvent exprimer l’intimité, marquer la distance, ou encore susciter le rejet ou l’attirance. Comme le souligne Le Breton (2019), les odeurs nuancent la valeur accordée à l’autre et façonnent nos émotions. Dans ce numéro de la Revue Odore, nous proposons d’explorer les liens entre les odeurs et le care, entendu ici dans sa dimension éthique, relationnelle et sociale.
Announcement
Coordination
- Dominique Avarez, MCF Sciences de l’éducation et de la formation, Université Toulouse Jean-Jaurès
- Sandra Cadiou, MCF Sciences de l’éducation et de la formation, Université Catholique de l’Ouest Niort
Argument
Smells, invisible and difficult to verbalise (Jaquet, 2005), nevertheless have a powerful, often implicit impact on our relationships with others. They can express intimacy, mark distance, or even elicit rejection or attraction. As Le Breton (2019) points out, odours nuance the value we place on others and shape our emotions. In this issue of Revue Odore, we explore the links between odours and care, understood here in its ethical, relational and social dimensions.
The odour of care: an ethical, relational and social dimension
Thinking about smells through the ethics of care
If the term care means “care, caring, solicitude, concern for others, all these words or expressions [which] are ways of saying, in French, care” (Hirata, 2021, p. 21), how can smells also contribute to this attention to others by working towards their well-being? We want to understand, grasp and explain the “various issues involved in analysing care practices” (Hirata, 2021, p. 22) in relation to smell, whether they relate to healthcare, daily care or institutional structures. The aim is to understand and describe the concrete and symbolic effects that odours can have in interactions, in situations of vulnerability, and in relationships of assistance and support.
Care and smell
In the medical and paramedical fields, smells are an important element of sensory assessment. They can signal a disorder or a change in health status, thereby guiding diagnosis (Salesse, 2019). In psychoanalysis, certain odours are associated with states of discomfort or psychological distress (Masse & Stip, 2024; Faure, 2023).
But odours also play a role in healthcare. Aromatherapy and olfactotherapy are examples of this: they provide relief in palliative care (Ballot, 2018; Strubi et al., 2025), for eating disorders such as anorexia (Dodin et al., 2012), and during cancer treatments (Balez, 2017).
Certain conditions directly affect the sense of smell, such as anosmia, whether congenital, accidental or infectious. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how profoundly the loss of smell affects quality of life (Bensafi & Rouby, 2021)
Odours, nuisances and care territories
Smell also affects our daily lives. We live in environments marked by odour nuisances (Cariou et al., 2023), for example, industrial (Pierrette & Moch, 2009), agricultural (Nicourt et al., 2000; Daniel, 2015), urban, etc.
Collective spaces seek to maintain an "acceptable" olfactory quality: this is the case in EPHAD: French nursing homes (Masraff, 2005; Anchisi, 2025; Cadiou et al., 2025), hospitals (Marquis, 2013; Fromantin et al., 2015; Bjornson et al., 2022), and municipal facilities (Tremblay et al., 2008). These choices are never neutral and reflect a policy of sensitivity.
Marketing, aesthetics, art and care design
Brand image is a constant concern. Commerce and marketing (Classen & Howes, 2003) of scent in care are no exception, particularly through beauty products or cleaning products that seek to provide a form of well-being (Maxeiner et al., 2009; Lopedota et al., 2015), often linked to a requirement to mask or eliminate body odours (Ozeki & Moro, 2016).
Design also plays a part in this quest for olfactory quality and comfort, both in terms of objects (Bjornson et al., 2022) and places (Balez, 2017; Baudequin, 2024), and in this sense contributes to care (Jérôme, 2023). It is part of an approach to care that focuses on the sensory experience of others.
Smells, otherness and identity assignments
If care is a form of attention, how can we think about it anthropologically? Smells invade other people's territory; some are disturbing, others are not (Touati, 2013). They contribute to how we imagine others (Corbin, 1986). What identities are assigned to them by odours (Candau, 2015)? This is determined by the care or lack of care we give them (Courmont, 2010), as evidenced and conveyed in literature (Galand, 2005; Do, 2004). In this context, how can a smell be considered bad and legislated for the common good (Daniel, 2015; Guillot & Luillery, 2017)?
Towards an olfactory ethics of care?
A first definition of care calls for a second, informed by feminist and critical theories of power relations (Gilligan, 1982/2008; Molinier et al., 2009; Tronto, 2009). Olfaction, in its implicit dimension, participates in systems of domination, but it can also open up avenues of resistance.
We therefore wish to examine the social, political and sensory mechanisms at work in practices related to odours, particularly in their relationship to care, exclusion or recognition. Depending on the field, olfaction engages in a relationship with the other that needs to be analysed.
The second definition of care is situated within the perspective of feminist theories and the dynamics of class, gender and racialisation (Gilligan, 1982/2008; Molinier et al., 2009; Tronto, 2009) to understand how smells, in their often implicit dimensions, contribute to forms of domination that care practices can deconstruct. We also wish to describe and explain these mechanisms at play in practices related to olfaction in caring for others, regardless of the field of interaction with others.
Our second issue therefore, aims to understand the place of odours in care for others and, where appropriate, to identify the inter-individual dynamics at work from a social and political perspective, regardless of the field in which the odour manifests itself.
Calendar
Call for papers number 2 will be launched on 1st October 2025.
Intention to submit must be submitted in French before 1st January 2026:
In a single file, the proposal must include a biographical presentation of the author, a title, the intention to submit (maximum 2,500 characters, including spaces), five keywords, and 3 to 5 bibliographical references. This file must be sent to revue-odore@univ-tlse2.fr
Feedback on submission proposals will be provided on 1st February 2026.
Acceptance of the submission proposal does not constitute agreement to publish; the double-blind peer review process is the sole judge.
If the submission is accepted, the full article in French must be submitted before 1st May 2026.
The experts' evaluations are expected to be returned by 1st July 2026.
The final articles are due on 1st October 2026.
Publication of the article in French and English on the journal's official website is scheduled for spring 2027.
Contacts
For any questions or information, please contact revue-odore@univ-tlse2.fr
Références
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Ballot, N. (2018). Apport de l’aromathérapie dans la prise en charge complémentaire de l’anxiété en soins palliatifs expérience de l’Unité d’hospitalisation à domicile du Centre hospitalier de Montauban. Thèse de médecine.
Baudequin, A.-C. & Cassin, S. (2024). Les flâneries sensibles : Une expérience habitante de l’olfaction. Poétique Du Parfum / Théorie Des Odeurs Dans Les Arts Et La Littérature, Editions Marie Delarbre.
Baudequin, A.-C. (2024, novembre 28). L’odorat, un « sens de la terre ». Revendications olfactives dans la conception de l’espace habité. L’olfaction au coeur de l’humain, la place du sentir dans les SHS, Niort.
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Bjornson, L., Van Slyke, A. C., Bucevska, M., Courtemanche, R., Bone, J., Knox, A., Verchere, C., & Boyle, J. C. (2022). Something Stinks! Finding Ways to Manage Noxious Odours in the Operating Room and Other Clinical Settings A Randomized Controlled Trial. Plastic Surgery (Oakville (Ont.)), 30(3), 246–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/22925503211008445
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Tremblay, J., Blais, J.-F., Drogui, P., & Mercier, G. (2008). Stockage et stabilité à long terme de boues d’épuration municipales décontaminées et stabilisées par voie chimique ou biologique. Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science, 7(4), 357–368.
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Subjects
- Education (Main category)
Date(s)
- Thursday, January 01, 2026
Attached files
Keywords
- odeur, care
Contact(s)
- Dominique ALVAREZ
courriel : dominique [dot] alvarez [at] univ-tlse2 [dot] fr
Information source
- Dominique ALVAREZ
courriel : dominique [dot] alvarez [at] univ-tlse2 [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Smell and Care », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, October 02, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/14u66
